


What Are Friends For?

by Adagal



Category: Skylanders (Video Games)
Genre: Best Friends, Fantasy, Friendship, Gen, High School, Mystery, tags may be updated as the story continues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-13 13:48:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29029683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adagal/pseuds/Adagal
Summary: It's been a year since Eugenie left for college, but now she's disappeared. Without a trace, without a clue of how she went missing. Kira and Lily want to solve the case, but the answer may be closer than they believed...
Kudos: 3





	1. The Before

"What?"

"Yeah, I begin next year. My test score was high enough for the university to accept me. I get to skip the rest of high school next year, hehe." Eugenie, Kira, and Lily all stood outside the front of the school, sitting on the staircase. Eugenie had been preparing herself to tell her friends that she was going to college next year, even though they were all in their freshman year of high school thus far.

"That's awesome, Jenny! How far is the school?" Kira asked.

"A whole city away," Eugenie responded, fidgeting her hands. "I mean, it's not really like we were going to see each other that often next year if I'm being honest... I guess the only good news is we don't move until the end of summer break."

"Eugenie, it's totally ok! On the bright side, you still have the rest of the year here! And Kira and I aren't going anywhere," Lily assured. "And even when you do end up leaving and going to that university next year, we can still hang out and text each other."

"You are right... I'm just really gonna miss you guys."

"Well, if there's anything we can do to help you, don't hesitate to tell us," Kira said.

Eugenie chuckled, her eyes beginning to water. "Thanks. That means a lot to me."

The three girls all bent in for a group hug. At which point, the honk of a minivan rang out, startling them.

"I gotta go," Eugenie sighed, staring at the person in the car window, who waved at her with a smile on their face. "See you guys tomorrow!"

As Eugenie left for the car, Kira and Lily began their walk home together. As Lily's dad was still working late, they went inside Kira's house to play some Animal Crossing until the sun started to set and Kira's mom started to get mad, but in that "time for bed you two" parent kinda way.

Meanwhile, Eugenie laid in her bed, staring at the ceiling. Though it was past 7pm, she hadn't bothered to change out of her day clothes or clean around her room in any way. She hadn't even eaten dinner. It was only April, and the move wasn't for a few months, but the upcoming date still felt too close for comfort.

"Jenny! Come on, you have to eat something!" Eugenie heard her mom call from downstairs. Eugenie ignored her, continuing to let her thoughts pass as she stared up at her ceiling fan.

Without moving her head, Eugenie simply leaned her arm to the side and grabbed a half-eaten energy bar off her nightstand. She took slow, tired bites until it was finished, and she could toss the wrapper close to the trash bin.

"Eugenie, please. At least get ready for bed," Eugenie's mom said as she opened the door to her daughter's room. Her face changed from concerned to sorrow as she saw Eugenie splayed on her bed, despair on her face. The next thing Eugenie knew, she could feel another body sitting on the edge of the bed and her mom rubbing her hair slowly.

"I know you're nervous about the move and college next year. But it'll be fun! New home, new opportunities, and you'll still be able to talk with your friends. The city's not even that far away. We can look for more things to so as the moving date gets closer, how about that?" And with that question, Eugenie's mom stood up and left as quickly as she entered the room. Eugenie tilted her head to see her mom leave, her face visibly more upset than before.

* * *

And so as the weeks passed, the three girls' anticipation for the end of the school year grew ever so steadily. They'd all planned more and more ways to chat with each other and more and more things they could do together while Eugenie lived so far away. On the day of Eugenie and her family moving, Kira and Lily had prepared a present for their friend.

"What is it?" Eugenie asked. Kira and Lily had asked her to walk with them to the local park after school, as they had something for her.

Kira put her hands around Eugenie's eyes, while Lily placed something in her hands. It felt small and light. When Kira took her hands away, Eugenie looked to see a silver bracelet in her hand. The words "Best Friends" were engraved on the small band on top.

"We got them too!" Kira squealed, lifting up her forearm to show her own silver bracelet. Lily showed her own bracelet as well. Eugenie's eyes watered at the gift.

"Thank you so much," she whispered, hastily fastening the bracelet to her own wrist.

"We wanted to get you something that we could all share, even while you're going to college," Kira explained.

"I love it! Thanks!" Eugenie wrapped both Lily and Kira in a tight group hug, one that the girls were happy to return.

"We're really going to miss you Jenny," Lily said.

"I'll try to convince mom to visit you guys sometime," Eugenie replied.

While they continued to hug each other, in the distance voice yelled, "Jenny! Time to go! The truck's leaving too!" Eugenie gave a sigh and let go of her friends.

"Bye," she whispered, edging back to her parents' car. Kira and Lily waved goodbye back. Soon enough, Eugenie climbed into the car and it drove away, leaving nothing but an empty house that would soon be up for sale.

If only things could've been different. If only Eugenie hadn't gone to college. If only Kira and Lily could've been with her more.

If only summer never ended.


	2. The Traveling

The end of the week had finally arrived, and Kira and Lily were in Kira's house, chatting about the new teachers they had for sophomore year, and their first impressions. They'd already binged the last season of Sailor Moon, and now had the TV on as background noise while they talked.

"I'm already dreading Health this semester," Lily groaned. "The teacher showed us the schedule, and I'm not looking forward to Sex Ed."

"I feel ya," Kira agreed. "At least you have Health though. I got PE this semester. We get uniforms on Monday, heart rate monitors too. They're not even the good ones, like in eighth grade."

They sat in silence for a while longer, until the TV channel swapped to a news broadcast.

"We interrupt this program for an important bulletin. College student, Eugenie Anders, has mysteriously gone missing," the reporter announced. The mere mention of Eugenie's name was enough to grab both Kira and Lily's attention. She went missing? What happened to her? Both girls wanted to ask what was going on, but neither one wished to drown out the reporter.

"The 15 year old girl was reported to have disappeared randomly while attending Doverdale University. According to the campus librarian, she was seen regularly going in and out of the library's basement, but as of yesterday, she never left. When authorities checked the basement at curfew, the girl was nowhere to be found, though her belongings remained on a table. Security camera footage has also shown Anders descending the stairs to the basement, but never going back up at any point. Though there are no other exits on the library basement, the parents still believe this to be a kidnapping. Later on, our local correspondent will have an interview with Mr. and Mrs. Anders. Stay tuned for more."

Kira and Lily remained speechless for a couple seconds, then exploded into a whirlwind of anxiety.

_She's gone? Jenny's gone? What happened? Oh my god! What the hell?_

The girls leaned against each other on the couch, hugging each other tightly and crying into the other's shoulders.

"She's gone, she's gone," Lily sobbed.

The girls continued to cry until they had no more tears in them. Then they laid back on the couch, feeling nothing but emptiness, and letting the TV continue to cover the story.

"These events are certainly a mystery," the reporter said. "Up now, our correspondent, Maggie, has a chat with the parents of Eugenie Anders."

The screen swapped to Eugenie's parents on a couch, sitting across from another woman. The girls stared at the TV as the interview happened.

"She's right you know," Kira muttered. Lily looked up from where she sat.

"What do you mean?"

"This is pretty mysterious. Jenny just up and disappears, no other way to get out than one and she's never seen using it? How did she leave? Who took her? What took her?"

"Well how are we gonna find that out? Why not just leave it to the people who know how to handle this sort of stuff?"

"Because they already tried everything. We can still try though. For Jenny. You with me on this?" Kira sat up fully and leaned into Lily, holding out a hand for her to shake. Lily looked at Kira, then at her hand, then back at Kira. With a happy sigh, she shook it.

"As long as we aren't doing any real harm," Lily grinned.

* * *

The next day, after school, the girls met up in the bathroom by the auditorium, as they often did after school. On one hand, it just gave them painful memories of being with Eugenie as they talked so often before. But on the other hand, they were going to figure out the mystery of Eugenie's disappearance. They were doing this for their friend.

"We already have down what we do and don't know, so let's begin our search," Kira explained. She held out a piece of paper with chicken scratch on their early findings. Lily scanned through the whole thing.

"Where do we begin?" she asked.

"Where it all started. The college!"

"But that's a whole city away. How are we going to convince our parents to take us there at all, let alone going to the college where Eugenie went missing?"

"...I think I have a plan."

Kira whipped out her phone and opened a notes sheet, filled with ideas for how they would leave for Doverdale She scrolled down to one idea in particular and zoomed in.

"We ask our parents to take us to Doverdale for a completely different reason. Then we sneak off for the university," she explained.

"So we lie?" Lily asked. "I'm not even mad about that, I'm more concerned about what happens if we get caught. Or even if we're able to go inside at all!"

Kira tapped her chin. "Oh yeah. That's a good point. Well, then we get to spend an afternoon in Doverdale! Everyone wins?" Kira hoped her shrug and a convincing smile would help her point. Lily squinted at her for a few seconds before answering,

"Yeah, sure. I'm in."

"Great! So what day works for you possibly?"

"I mean, we're asking our parents, aren't we? I can text you the dates that work once my dad tells me."

"Oh yeah. Sounds good then."

The girls fist bumped before leaving the bathroom together, and left school to walk home. It wasn't as talkative as they normally liked it, it had been rather quiet like this for many days. After all, there wasn't much to talk about anymore outside of depressing things. The awkward silence finally subsided when Kira tapered off to go home, then Lily into hers, which was conveniently next door.

"Hey mom?" Kira asked, walking into the kitchen. "Can we go to Doverdale this weekend?"

Kira's mother turned around, confusion on her face. "Why? Is it because of Eugenie?"

The answer was yes, but Kira didn't want to tip her mom off to her plan. "No, I just wanted to get out of the house a little more. There's not really much to do this weekend anyway, Aaron doesn't have any basketball games."

Her mother nodded. "Alright. Maybe this weekend, then. I'll check my schedule, Kira. I know you miss Eugenie a lot, are you sure going to Doverdale won't make you any more sad?"

"It's fine, mom. I promise. Oh, and Lily wanted to come with us, if her dad would let her."

"That's alright too. We just have to coordinate. Let me know what she says."

"Ok, I'm heading up for homework."

Kira swung her jacket off, placed it on the couch, and dashed upstairs to her bedroom. When she closed the door, she flopped on her bed, feeling drained. There was so much to deal with, not enough brainpower to deal with it. She just wanted to sleep the rest of the day, and not have to worry about the math quiz that she would most definitely have failed. It was then her phone rang, Lily's name on the caller ID.

"Hey Kira, I can go on Sunday. My dad wants to take me downtown tomorrow for the day," Lily said.

"Sweet! My mom was going to check her schedule if she could take us this weekend. I'll let her know!"

"Great! Bye!"

"Bye!"

They hung up. Now they had a date planned, as long as Kira's mom could take them, they could start their investigation.

"Hey Kira, what a coincidence!" her mom called from downstairs. "Aaron has a basketball game on Friday in Doverdale!"

"The stars really did align," Kira said to herself. Then she called back to her mom, "Great! Lily can also go on Sunday!"

"Ok, I'll talk to her dad so we can figure out when to leave!"

Kira grinned widely. They were going to figure this all out. For Eugenie.

Saturday passed slow as ever, even with all the Animal Crossing to catch up on. Then Sunday finally arrived, and it was time. Aaron had his basketball stuff packed, as did Kira and Lily with their own items. Kira's mom had everyone load into the car, and then they set off for Doverdale, and the true start of the mystery.


End file.
